Grazing strategy is reported to affect animal movement and energy expenditure. Activity (steps taken) of yearling steers was studied using three different grazing strategies on Sandhills subirrigated meadow at the University of Nebraska Barta Brothers Ranch 11 km northwest of Rose, Nebraska. The grazing strategies were a 4-pasture rotation with a single occupation, a 120-pasture rotation with a single occupation (ultrahigh stocking density), and continuous grazing. The research was conducted during a 60-day grazing season from mid-June to mid-August in 2013 and 2014. Each pasture in the 4-pasture rotation was 0.42 ha and grazed by 10 steers for 15 days and each pasture in the 120-pasture rotation was 0.14 ha and grazed by 36 steers for 0.5 day. The continuously grazed pastures were each 0.75 ha and were grazed by 4 steers for the entire 60 days. Two steers from each grazing strategy were randomly selected and fitted with IceCube pedometers, and the pedometers were on the same steers for the entire 60-day grazing season. We hypothesized that animal activity would increase as pasture size increased and as the length of grazing time in a pasture increased, thus continuously grazed pastures will have the greatest activity while ultrahigh density grazing will have the least number of steps per day. However, the 2013 data showed a significantly greater number of steps taken in the ultrahigh stocking density pastures (5,551 steps day-1) than in the continuously grazed pastures (3,751 steps day-1) and pastures in the 4-pasture rotation (3,959 steps day-1). Steer activity in the ultrahigh stocking density pastures peaked shortly after each half-day move as the steers grazed and moved rapidly back and forth through the pasture. A leapfrog style of movement was observed after each move. The 2014 data will be presented and results of the 2-year study will be discussed.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.